Posts: 11

Topic: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

First, I just wanted to say it's quite amazing that there are several topics that, from today alone, have recent posts in them, and it has a small but very dedicated user base, which is awesome. To contrast, even old but popular games on GameFAQs (like, Ocarina of Time popular) don't have the userbase anymore. For how unknown Sliders seems to be, it's quite shocking (in a good way!) to see this level of activity.

What is it about Sliders that brought everyone who still posts here together, and apparently in a communication or friendship that has lasted a while? As someone who is new to this forum (but who saw Sliders since she was 5) there is a lot of history to go through and I am not sure if I can absorb everything; any tips/recommended topics to read to catch up on? Is there anything new, either Indie or otherwise, in the Sliders universe?

I remember a long time ago seeing fan made trailers for stuff (one in particular was some Star Wars/Sliders crossover) that never made it off the ground.

I do also remember coming here a long time ago and watching The Exodus: Excised and finding it more enjoyable than what was shown on TV.

Personally, I grew up watching Sliders and vaguely only remembered The Guardian from Season 3 (this was when it first aired). I had a VHS tape where we recorded all the Season 2 episodes except As Time Goes By and Invasion, which I watched rather frequently growing up around 2000-2003, and it wouldn't be for almost a decade later that I would get a chance to see reruns and finally see Season 1, the end of Season 2, and Season 3 when I was old enough to actually follow the series properly. I honestly stopped watching at Season 4 (only really recall World Killer) and to this day there are episodes of Season 5 I have never seen because I just lost interest given the direction it was taking (same can be said for late Season 3, although with Double Cross, Dead Man Sliding, and The Guardian I would have thought Season 3 would have been amazing... but it wasn't).

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

I've been posting on the boards for years (as in, when the show was still airing). And, yes, there have been multiple boards. This iteration was started after the Sci-Fi Channel (back when it was called that) closed their board. This one has been saved multiple times, at times being kept afloat by half a dozen people.

A lot of the time, we get by talking about random stuff. Comic book movies and TV shows. But we still talk Sliders a lot of the time. A few of us are pretty good writers (I will exclude myself from that, although I did some Sliders fanfic a while back).

If you want to know the heart of this board, it's ireactions. He should be credited with keeping this thing going.

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

Don't remember exactly how I found it, probably on a search for something about the show. Lurked for a few years, reading all the back posts (this was 3 or so boards ago, which seemed to have lasted a long time). The site has crashed and been relaunched at least twice since I joined, shame all those old posts and topics are gone. I definitely learned a lot.

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

In terms of content, the Sliders Rewatch at http://rewatchpodcast.podomatic.com and the Sliderscast at www.sliderscast.com have certainly given fans a lot to enjoy and discuss. Every couple years, some fan looks up Tracy Torme's phone number and calls him to talk about a potential reboot. There's a 20th anniversary special over at www.earthprime.com/reborn with one final chapter to go. But the biggest draw to this board appears to be superheroes. We get really enthused discussing the DC Extended Universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC shows and I often suspect it's because the sliders are, in fact, superhero characters.

I think, also, SLIDERS had fans like Temporal Flux and the Expert who found all the behind the scenes info for why casting changes were made and why certain stories were told. In an Internet era, most shows see all their behind the scenes stuff out in the open, often revealed in the cast and creators' social media accounts or in audio commentaries. With SLIDERS, fan experts had to dig, but the result is that SLIDERS can be discussed in its behind the scenes context just as extensively as any modern TV series -- whereas other 90s shows like SEAQUEST and EARTH 2 and MANTIS and LOIS & CLARK will never have their secrets known as wholly or exhaustively because those shows did not luck into investigators as capable and resourceful as TF and the Expert.

But I think the reason SLIDERS is still actively discussed with all of us demonstrating a shocking skillfulness in bringing any discussion of any film, novel or TV show back to SLIDERS -- SLIDERS was an anthology series with a regular cast and any story is conceivably a SLIDERS story. (That's not to say it would be a GOOD story.)

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

I was a long time Sliders Fan from when it aired in the Latter half of the Nineties in the UK on BBC 2.

My best friend back then is who introduced me to the Internet and my first Fansite/Forum/BB was the Lexx site where I went by the Username: Fractal Core.

I followed that to the Anime Fandom like RAAC, FFML, AnimeAddventure and FF.Net back when the place was small and before it became "The Pit"

I did read a fair few Sliders Fics back then too but usually via Web Rings.... God you dont see them much now except on the Wayback Machine huh?

Found this place a few Years back before the multiple Crashes and kind of binge read the whole archives before I felt comfortable interjecting but yeah I agree it is sad those threads are gone as I too learned a lot.....

"It's only a matter of time. Were I in your shoes, I would spend my last earthly hours enjoying the world. Of course, if you wish, you can spend them fighting for a lost cause.... But you know that you've lost." -Kane-

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

Welcome!

I am one of the oldies... I started on the Fox forum, around the time that season 3 aired and the show was cancelled. I was part of the fan efforts to save the show, and the excitement leading up to the Scifi Channel pickup. I still remember watching the first glimpses of season 4 on RealPlayer

I think the reason for the community's survival is that it isn't just a Sliders board. We talk about everything from politics, to cell phones and operating systems. We share writing experiences too. It is a place centered on Sliders, but it is really a mish-mash, which makes it easy to keep talking. At this point, it is like the modern equivalent of the neighborhood bar or barber shop.

The surprising thing is that as old users circulate in and out, we still get fresh batches of new people every so often. That's pretty cool.

Re: Another Sliders fan: This forum has quite an amazing level of activity

welcome...I latched on to the show and I always get a kick out of conversing with true fans of my favorite shows. Seems like in my circle of "friends" I am the only real Sliders fan. So these threads give me time to chat with kindred spirits.

For Erika Redmark, I stumbled onto the show like midway thru Season 4 and had to get caught up before season 5 began. I was a little perturbed at the high turnover in the cast but I was so vested in the show that it did not phase me like has other fans. I just kept watching. I was able to appreciate Season 5 minus Mallory and IMO season 5 was the best season since Season 2.

At the time I thought 4 was the weakest but after getting the DVD's and watching them over. I found an appreciation for season 4. Yes, it got bogged down on the backend (after such a promising start) and limped to the finish line (I consider Season 4's "the Chasm" to be the all time worst episode) but I have more affection for Season 4 than I do for Season 3 which I thought was where the show "jumped the shark", nuked the fridge and flew so far off the rails that ... you decide. Despite the lows, I do find 'Double Cross" , "The Guardian" and "Dead Man Sliding" to be quality television and an hour well spent.